FROM OUR FORUM...

BA EXECUTIVE CLUB CHANGES

British Airways has made extensive changes to its Executive Club programme, including accrual and redemption for tier points and Avios. (See our report in "Loyalty" on p44). Here, our readers respond...

passionateflyer 28 January 12:34

To be honest I don't see how these changes will impact business travellers significantly. I was concerned when I read the headline, but after checking the details, premium travel and its recognition is unaffected. I fly J [business] for leisure and will continue to be recognised the same way I am now. When I'm Silver I will get a smaller tier bonus, but that's it. The same tier points for all my flights; the same accrual of Avios for premium cabins. I don't rely on the odd Y ticket to contribute to my tier point collection so the reduction in discount Y [economy] ticket recognition is not an issue, and, I understand why they are doing it.

dutchyankee 28 January 12:41

@Passionate Flyer – The peak rates for premium travel Avios redemption have most definitely gone up, even for off-peak. Even on BA's own explanation page they state: “In Club World and First the Avios price will increase and the amount will vary depending on the time of the year.”

Bath_VIP 28 January

12:53

Having looked at the details, I can broadly summarise the changes as follows: Redemptions: more Avios needed to redeem long haul premium; same or fewer Avios to redeem short haul; fewer Avios needed to redeem off peak economy. Earnings: fewer Avios earned for inflexible fares in Economy and World Traveller Plus; more Avios earned for premium flexible fares; BA Silver earning bonus cut.

All in all, I can see that the changes address a number of inconsistencies that used to exist. Put it this way, if you started with a blank piece of paper, you would probably end up with something like this.

If you are earning Avios on flexible fares and are happy to redeem in short haul and/ or economy, then you are better off. If you are earning on inflexible fares and looking to redeem on long haul premium (i.e. like me!) then you are clearly worse off. I can only assume that BA has figured out the former outweighs the latter in their customer base, and the financial logic does make sense.

One thing I can't work out if it has changed or not, is the Avios needed for upgrades from premium to business. This has always been the best value element of the whole program and is the main way I redeem Avios. If this hasn't changed then the effect on me may be less than first thought.

Tomin Scotland 28 January 12:55

The UK domestic change will increase the costs for using BA Avios for European flights. In anticipation of this (as yet unspecified) change, I have made two redemption bookings for long weekends away later in the year.

Jordan D 28 January 12:58

For business travellers who have corporate bookers that always book them on the lowest available fare classes (especially on intra-European Y), there will be hits felt.

City professional 28 January 13:27

Swings and roundabouts, so I think it's hard to say either way whether this is good or bad yet. Yes, redemptions are more costly, but, as a Londoner, it always narked me that Glaswegians paid the same for a redemption to Paris (and that Silvers got the same Avios bonus as Golds). Plus it's nigh on impossible to get a redemption to Cape Town or Sydney in premium class, so supply and demand says these should cost more. In any case, Avios earning is either flat or rising significantly in premium cabins, so that should cover any increase in mileage requirements. Best of all, it devalues the Avios that people are getting so liberally from shopping at Tesco and using an Amex card. So BA will truly be rewarding people who fly BA in premium classes. Isn't that the point of a loyalty scheme?

MartinJ 28 January 14:07

If BA was serious about increasing Avios availability for their most loyal customers they would stop giving out millions of Avios each year as credit card sign-up bonuses. If you live in the US you can easily generate 100,000 Avios per year or more just by switching credit cards.

peter19 29 January 04:46

I think overall it's an OK change Avios-wise and could have been more restrictive. I'm based in Scotland and it was nice to get the domestic sector as part of the reward flight. Now it's not so appealing. For a Club Europe reward return - I would most likely just end up paying the fare and saving miles for upgrades.

The 50 per cent drop is a bit of a hit on miles, but I suppose it distinguishes the tiers – it would have been nice at 75 per cent. I'll need to read up on the tier point allocation for fares but it could hit the discounted economy routes, as company policies are now often lowest fares (in whatever class) and that's that. If I'm right, it sounds like if you were an Aberdeen– London commuter you would have to travel every week of the year to gain Silver based on an ecomony fare. This seems pretty harsh!

superchris 29 January 07:19

As said in a number of places, to be fair to BA, if you were to start the programme from scratch you would end up with something like this. Clear reward for those spending the most money and increased benefits at each tier level. As someone who collects miles on lower yield tickets, and uses BA/Amex companion vouchers its clearly going to impact me, but I support the logic and if it frees up reward space then I'm fully behind it. My only bugbear is I wish they had realigned the ridiculous Bronze benefit of priority boarding, which has destroyed the benefit for everyone.

City professional 29 January 09:56

As with any change, some people win, and some people lose. I earn my status primarily through long haul paid (but discounted) J flying. My Avios earning is basically the same, and redemptions are easier (because fewer people will earn them, and availability seems better) and are not as expensive as for other people (because I don't fly during school holidays - can't think of anything worse). So net-net, I'm either neutral or slightly up. Those who buy and pay for flexible premium tickets gain the most. Those who buy and pay for short-haul cheapest Y tickets lose the most, even if they do it week-in, week-out. You might not like it, but the people who win out of the shake-up are the ones who make BA the most money. And the ones who lose out are the people who make BA the least. Which is the whole point of a loyalty scheme - reward profitability, not frequency.

Carajillo2Sugar 29 January 10:18

@citypro - Agreed, the changes don't benefit me but it's obvious that any company in any line of business needs to look at rewarding/ incentivising the customers who are the most valuable to them. That said, there is also a need to understand the importance of influence (e.g. travel policy decision-makers) as well as the monetary value of the spend by the individual traveller.

bobmotto 29 January 11:20

My company's travel policy is to book the lowest fare. I travel to Europe every week and I fight with our travel providers to use BA when making a reservation. But there is no regard to loyal customers like me who go out of their way to book BA flights. I feel that I am being slapped in the face by BA. The new changes are just greed by BA and show that customer loyalty means nothing to them anymore.

Bath_VIP 1 February

12:09

I think we are seeing a general market to spend based rewards rather than mileage based rewards. Personally I have always favoured a cashback reward scheme, which can be part redeemed as necessary. However, it looks like airlines still prefer points based schemes, primarily because by creating a virtual currency you can devalue it. Longer term, I suspect we consumers will eventually wise up to this and start to favour cashback schemes. The other reason why airlines use points instead of cash back is of course they are international businesses dealing with many currencies. Therefore it makes more sense to create a virtual currency. However, if airlines start hiving off their schemes (as LH have done and IAG will do) then, again, the opportunity to consolidate into a worldwide virtual currency exists e.g. Bitcoins.

Willie Welsh 1 February 17:39

As far as I can see these changes only affect Avios earning on the cheapest economy tickets. This is far less awful than the Lufthansa enhancements to Miles and More where Y tickets get you almost no status points at all. I don't see the lounges emptying. All that will happen is people travelling on cheap economy tickets will get less rewards, but BA and most other airlines don't care whether they retain the business of these people. There are better programmes and levels of service for the money out there.